NEWSBRIEFS – INDUSTRY

Products

New Tiny Surface Mount GPS Receiver

Trimble has introduced its new Copernicus GPS receiver – a thumbnail-sized, surface-mount, low power module ideal for adding GPS capabilities to Bluetooth appliances, sport accessories, personal navigators or cameras, computer and communication peripherals as well as vehicle tracking, navigation, and security products.

It enables system integrators to easily add GPS capability to a mobile device with minimal impact on its size or battery life at a very economical price. www.trimble.com

GNSS technology for surveying applications

The Leica Geosystems launches Leica GX1230 GG and Leica ATX1230 GG sensors for surveying applications as well as the GRX1200 GG Pro sensor for reference station networks. The new ultra precise GNSS measurement engine now supports both GPS L2C signals and GLONASS satellites. Users of these solutions will benefit by having up to 100 % more satellites available than GPS alone. These systems are designed to track future GNSS signals, such as GPS L5 and Galileo.

It also announces availability of Leica CloudWorx™ 1.0 for PDMS, that enable professionals to use rich, as-built point cloud data directly in their native desktop design and visualization platform. PDMS is part of AVEVA’s VANTAGE Plant Design family. www.leicageosystems.com

Topcon opens G3 door to the future

Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) introduces the Paradigm G3 chip, a new technology that sets the standard for the future of satellite positioning. The new Topcon G3 technology takes it a step further by adding the soon-to-beavailable GALILEO . The G3 chip with its patented Universal Signal Tracking capabilities has 72 universal channels that can receive signals from up to 36 satellites simultaneously. G3 can track all signals from all available satellite positioning systems. It is designed to dynamically adjust to satellites with best signal strength. The streamlined chip profile is 75 percent smaller than current chips, enabling small, lighter receiver design. Users of Topcon Positioning Systems GPS+ technology and equipment can access three additional navigational satellites in the GLONASS system also. When faced with environmental challenges such as narrow streets with tall buildings, dense forests and mountainous terrain, Topcon’s G3 system can provide
better satellite coverage than before.

GfK MACON re-digitalizes topographical maps of India

The India Edition, which contains the world’s only six-digit postcode map of that country, is being supplemented to includea lot of topographical information, including more than 3,000 new city points. It comprises detailed postal and administrative units as well as a large selection of topographical map layers, such as roads, railway lines, cities, rivers and elevations. The digital maps are supplied as vector data records in the standard GIS formats. www.gfk-macon.com

PCI Geomatics develops SAR Polarimetry Workstation

PCI Geomatics announces the development and release of the SAR Polarimetry Workstation (SPW) as part of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Earth Observation Application Development Program (EOADP). The SPW is available as an add-on module to Geomatica 10. It can directly read data products from the AIRSAR, ENVISAR ASAR, CV-580, and SIR-C systems. It is also able to read synthetic RADARSAT-2 data products and will be able to read the real data products once they become available. PCI Geomatics also released Geomatica 10 for Linux™ and Solaris™ users. The latest version emphasizes automation, productivity, and support for more than 100 geospatial data formats. www.pcigeomatics.com

VueStar’s complete global navigation system utilizes the global satellitebased StarFire(TM) Network to provide precise positioning worldwide without the need for RTK base stations or GPS post processing. This new system introduces three significant enhancements: Improved GPS signal processing, StarPac Mission software, and the optional Event Latch Interface. The 12-channel, dual-frequency GPS receiver computes real-time positions at up to 25 times a second, re-acquires GPS signals faster, and includes improved troposphere modeling which better compensates for changes in altitude. www.NavComTech.com

Garmin introduces portable GPS navigators

Garmin International, Inchas announced the GPSMAP378 and GPS MAP 78 – two versatile and portable GPS navigators that come pre-loaded with a comprehensive set of maps and charts. The 2 navigators are waterproof to IEC 60529, IPX-7 standards (submersible to one meter for up to 30 minutes) and have a highresolution 256-color sunlight readable TFT display. www.garmin.com

StreetPro Singapore version 3 by MapInfo

MapInfo Corporation announced the release of StreetPro for Singapore. It is a digital database comprising an extensive array of layers including
a high quality street network, and a variety of contextual layers to enhance analysis and map presentation; integrated postcode boundaries and 6 digit postcode points supporting location intelligence, landmark and feature categories providing comprehensive local content and detailed coverage of the entire country. www.mapinfo.com

Earlier, it also introduced the new version of MapGuide Open Source, its next generation web mapping software originally called MapServer Enterprise, hosted by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (http://mapguide.osgeo.org).

It is a free software which enables users to quickly develop and distribute spatial and design data over the web, as well as reduces their total cost of ownership for a web mapping solution. The company plans to offer a commercial version called Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise 2007 later this year.

Innerspace Introduces Portable Hydrographic Survey System

The Innerspace Technology Model 620 Portable Hydrographic Survey System (PHSS) is designed to collect X-Y-Z data from a small boat. It is both easy to set up and easy to use and operation is self taught, no factory training is necessary. It consists of survey depth sounder, DGPS and Windows XP based hydrographic (X-Y-Z) data collection software.www. innerspacetechnology.com

Thales GPSDifferential Module

Thales has introduced GPSDifferential Module, a software extension for Mobile Mapper CE that seamlessly adds the power of post processing to virtually any mobile GIS/mapping software application. With this, submeter and up to sub-foot mapping is easy to achieve, even where real-time corrections are not available, or when used in difficult signal environmentswww.thalesgroup.com/navigation

Bentley Connects MicroStation to Google Earth Service

Bentley Systems announces that it has connected MicroStation to the Google Earth™ service. As a result, for the first time, users can view and navigate 2D/3D models of infrastructure projects in the context of the Google Earth environment.

Hemisphere introduces GPS for agriculture

Hemisphere GPS announces the introduction of Outback® BaseLine – highdefinition GPS for agricultural applications that is much more accurate than standard GPS, and much more affordable than RTK GPS. It is aimed at the large highdefinition market – including row crop and controlled traffic applications – that welcomes enhanced GPS accuracy but rejects the high cost of RTK GPS.

It’s ideal for many agricultural tasks including planting, seeding, cultivating and harvesting. Farmers who haven’t yet invested in GPS guidance can use one Outback BaseLine. www.hemispheregps.com

Business

GeoEye receives additional awards from NGA

GeoEye announces its Clear View contracts for map-accurate imagery and services with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) have increased in value by an additional $13 million taking the total value upto $49 million in 2006. These most recent increases represent additional imagery to be collected by the company’s IKONOS and OrbView-3 high-resolution earthimaging satellites. The contracts require GeoEye to complete a variety of specific imagery collections supporting many NGA requirements. www.geoeye.com

Infotech Enterprises gets multi million dollar contract

The Los Angeles Region Imagery Acquisition Consortium (LARIAC) -a consortium of 26 state and local government agencies within the county of Los Angeles (LA) USA has selected VARGIS LLC – a fully owned subsidiary of Infotech Enterprises Limited in U.S, to provide digital aerial imagery data with GIS, web mapping system with computer aided design and engineering design applications. It will be providing digital imagery data and related photogrammetric services for the entire LA country area. www.infotechsw.com

Bangladesh National Mapping from East View Cartographic

East View Cartographic (EVC) announces an agreement to become an official reseller of topographic and thematic maps from the Survey of Bangladesh. These nationally produced maps offer large-scale coverage available for Bangladesh and are ideal for uses such as project planning, natural resources development, trade and investment, humanitarian/disaster response, academic research, and even travel and tourism. The Survey of Bangladesh has also produced a number of specialized series including 1:10,000 coastal mapping, a Dhaka city plan at 1:5000 scale, and a variety of political-administrative and thematic maps. www.eastview.com

Intermap partners with Tele Atlas for navigation

Intermap has recently partnered with Teleatlas to develop vehicle navigation applications. The new collaboration combines Tele Atlas’ 2D road data with Intermap’s 3D NEXTMap data. The companies will first work to produce an operational scale pilot incorporating Intermap’s 3D elevation map of California, the most accurate map of the state ever produced, and Tele Atlas road vectors. The resulting application will allow visualization systems to operate at higher levels of detail and accuracy than any other statewide dataset www.tribuneindia.com

Geokosmos announced its acquisition of UltraCAM-D

Geokosmos has announced its acquisition of the UltraCAM-D digital aerial topographic camera, a Vexcel Imaging (Austria) product. The Ultra-CAM-D is a full-scale digital aerial camera with the high-resolution rate (86,25 mega pixel), which will be used within the territory of the former Soviet Union states. It plans a joint use of the camera and aircraftinstalled ALTM LIDARs, which will allow to create detailed texturing 3-D DTM and DSM

Boeing Awarded $240 Million JDAM Contract

Boeing received a $240 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce 10,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits for existing 500-, 1,000- and 2,000- pound bombs purchased by the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Known as the world’s most accurate bomb, JDAM is a Global Positioning System-aided, nearprecision weapon that has been used extensively in global operations by the U.S. Air Force and Navy.http://webwire.com